easist way I have found is proces your pics in a Jobo drum... then they all stick together, as you are un-used to putting film into a reel that really doesn't want it in there.
No matter how careful you are not messing up the pic your negs will be shot anyway
I keep a printout of this list: http://www.largeformatphotography.info/mistakes.html and I find that most of my outings allow me to check off something. Now we won't mention just which error collects the most check marks... aw, what the heck, it's forgetting to pull the darkslide on a shot. My daybook has many a cussing out of myself for that error...
William
4x5 and a Tessar is heaven
"I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies..." Green Day
And I will top this with a forgotten Pelicase on a holiday trip. It contained the lenses, while I took everything else with meOriginally Posted by David Karp
I´ve also forgotten the cable release sometime. But at least with Copal Shutters, this is not the worst. You can trigger the latch with your fingers, even in a recessed board.
Carefully packed everything - Camera, Tripod, cable release, darkslides with film, special glasses so I could see the screen. Drove 50 miles - light just right - unexpected bonus of rowers practising on the calm clear river - What did I forget? The little quick release hexagon to attach camera to tripod.
My last outing was a disaster! I shot a lot of film and made several mistakes including:
1) forgetting to pull the slide (caught myself at least once)
2) Metering errors - wrong ISO on meter
3) caught and ruined sheet film replacing dark slide
4) focusing errors
one or two really nice shots keep me coming back for more. I always enjoy the ride, sometimes even more than the destination.
Just the other day -- A very nice old interior in a deserted house with an excellent still life of plates bottles etc.
Took a meter reading calculated the exposure, pulled the slide and tripped the shutter. Carefully left the area for the 13 minute 45 second exposure. At 12 minutes came back to notice a Minolta light meter sitting right in the middle of the shot. At least the reciprocity calculations are spot on
Steve
Last spring in the color darkroom it took me a while to get used to the lack of safelight. We had individual rooms that we could turn the light on to load a new neg or what have you. Once I went to put a piece of paper in the easel and remember noticing that the paper is blue...then I realized that I shouldn't be seeing the paper. Too late, a whole box wasted.
I usually go to Yosemite to climb, but a few years ago I made the trip just to take photos. I arrived in The Valley late in the day but full of energy. I set up camp and then hiked by moonlight to the meadows that provide a great spot for viewing the Upper and Lower falls. I shot for a couple hours and then walked the three miles back to camp.
The next morning I discovered that the Arca-Swiss clamp on my ballhead had fallen apart somewhere between the meadows and the backpackers camp below the the Washington Column! I had no way to support my camera!
I decided to make lemonaid, as the saying goes - I decided to ship my tent and tripods back home and go very light and handheld for the rest of the trip. Later that evening, after I had posted the package, I was walking along the leaf-covered trail past Housekeeping Camp when I saw a black anodized knob sticking out from under a leaf - it was my knob. I figured if I walked a few more steps the long washer, then the spring, then the clamp itself might be found. I was right, but I wasn't too happy to have found them
I finished loading some filmholders in a dark room and then turned on the lights, only to find I had forgotten to close the foil pack and return the unexposed film to its light-tight box. Wasted nearly half a box of film.
Anyone else do this?
Having experienced a number of the above goofs, I discovered that there are two important symptoms of advancing age:
1) a distinct memory loss, and
2) uhhh... I can't seem to remember the other one.
Jack
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